Pasture Raised Chicken and Other Good Things

Crafty Bits

Today I was motivated to do some shibori dying. I just adore seeing a full clothesline too.

I’m just so in love with this process, it involves folding/wrapping/clamping/tying as a way of creating a resist, then when dipped in indigo dye the results are magic. There really is no wrong way to do this. Opening each piece is so exciting!

I dyed 12 cloth napkins and 12 dishtowels along with two linen dresses that have been hanging around unworn, because who wears white? I know I don’t.

The dish towels are made of thin flour sack cotton fabric, perfect for around the kitchen but I have plans to sew them together into a beach cover up. (I’ll post pics of that later)

Each one of these pieces is unique and could never be ‘exactly’ repeatable, that’s exactly what I love about shibori…it’s wabi-sabi. The perfect in the imperfect.

I’ll be hosting a dying workshop at the farm on July 2nd at 10am-2pm if you would like to learn how to dye in this traditional Japanese way. We will focus on flat cloth (napkins/towels etc) in this workshop as dying clothing be somewhat complex.

Every year when we go to Maine for our family vacation, we all do a craft project together, it sort of happens organically the desire to have a momento of time well spent, drinks well drunk, cards well played and waves well surfed. The last few years it’s been tie-dyes. We dye nightgowns then play cards all night like grown up giggling twins, the kids dye t-shirts…heck we all dye t-shirts…when there’s dye left over we dye our underwear and socks…it’s goofy and superfun. Then, just to prove we’re related we take a group shot, sealing up the memory like a time capsule. A glorious little funny to be opened with a smile later.

This year, I’m going prepared. And by prepared, I mean pinning dying ideas to my pinterest board like a maniac! (See my pin board here) While gathering all the pins, I was reminded of the magic of shibori. It’s like tie-dye plus geometry and maybe a little math thrown in. I like the planning and forethought that’s needed. I like the varying techniques and endless results.

Shibori is a japanese dying technique, here is a link if you’d like to know more: Shibori Wiki

Once the items are in the dye bath it’s like waiting for your parents to eat a leisurely and torturous breakfast while waiting to open your Christmas presents……time slows down. One hour feels like days when all you can think about WHAT WILL IT LOOK LIKE inside those crazy strings and rubber bands!!! Thus, I’m dying. I think I might have died with all the waiting.

For my first attempt at this I think it worked pretty darn well! I especially love the vertically striped shirt. One sleeve is darker than the other because the pole was too tall to fit in the dye bucket so i kept pouring dye over the top. I think the action of the dye running down the tube infiltrate the strings. What a happy accident!

I’m so obsessed that I might spend all day tomorrow dying handerchiefs and kitchen towels and pillow cases and yoga pants and bedspreads and dresses and underwear and….socks….and…